Star Trek: The Next Generation — 4x05 — Remember Me

Aired 1990-10-22

SpaceOpera.com rating:4

Average reader rating:4.96

Synopsis

Dr. Crusher is trapped in a world created by her own mind.

Remarkable scenes

Geordi freaking out at Wesley regarding his experiment.
Beverly to O'Brien: "Was he invisible? Did I carry on a conversation with thin air?"
People starting to disappear.
Beverly griping about her missing staff and the bridge crew not understanding what she's talking about.
Data justifying all the empty space on the space to Beverly.
Beverly describing the missing crew to Picard.
Picard trying to justify no crew to Beverly.
Beverly confusing the computer when everyone disappeared but her.
Beverly: "If there's nothing wrong with me, maybe there's something wrong with the universe!" Such a wonderfully audacious statement.
Beverly asking the computer what the nature of the universe is and the computer responding with a prompt and definite but confusing answer.
The computer attributing the explosive decompression to "a flaw in the ship's design." Sure, I guess. If you built your ship too large for the universe, that would be a flaw in the design!
Beverly's return.

Review

Static warp bubble? Excuse me? Now there's some incredibly absurd technobabble for you... This is one of the better Dr. Crusher episodes, except that it is plagued by technobabble and inconsistencies. The idea behind the episode itself is great, and fun in its execution. I enjoyed seeing Picard and Data justifying the immense size of the ship against an ever diminishing crew. It's also nice to see the Traveler back with Wesley. A loose thread picked up (but not wrapped up until later). I just wish the writers would have spent more time coming up with less absurd technobabble.

13 reader comments

The graphics at the beginning of the episode, showing the Enterprise arriving and docking at Starbase 133, are the same graphics used in "11001001." However, on that episode the Enterprise was at Starbase 74. I understand the necessity to reuse these expensive-to-produce visuals, but why not make reusing them make sense? Wouldn't it have made more sense just to call Starbase 133, Starbase 74 instead?
When Quaice turns up missing, Data scans the entire ship for life forms. He also suggests they check the transporter ID traces to see if the man went back to the starbase. One of the graphics shows the Enterprise docked at the starbase and connected by a tube. Quaice could have just walked off the ship.
by DSOmo | 08/05/2007 at 8:04 pm

Near the end of the episode, when Crusher leaves the bridge, she boards a turbolift. When the turbolift starts to move, the light in the window goes from top to bottom. If the light is going from top to bottom, the turbolift is moving up. But Crusher boarded the turbolift from the main bridge. She is on deck 1. There is nothing above the main bridge to go up to. How can Crusher be going up?
by DSOmo | 10/18/2007 at 6:14 am

Although it wasn't the best episode, this one was in the "alternate universe/timeline" vein, like Parallels and Yesterday's Enterprise, and I especially enjoy episodes like that. Notice the theme running through all three of them: something changes and only one character notices. Guinan in Yesterday's Enterprise, Worf in Parallels, and in this episode, Dr. Crusher. (There are others but they don't occur to me at the moment.)
One of the purposes of Star Trek, in my opinion, is to explore questions as to the nature of the universe, time, reality, perception, consciousness, etc. This is evident from the very start in the first Trek pilot, "The Cage." While the execution of this kind of philosophical/existential exploration may not always be perfect, I admire the willingness on the part of the writers and producers to go, basically "where no one has gone before," despite the imperfections. Crusher certainly went where no one has gone before in this episode: her own universe. Freaky! (There's something for your memoirs.) What if you suddenly started noticing drastic changes that no one else noticed? Put yourself in her place: I think she handled it quite well. A lot of people would go mad.
I liked the return of the Traveler, though his abrupt appearance was a little contrived. I also like the brief explanation as to the various uses of a ship of that size, because anyone who has looked at the plans of the ship knows it can hold a whole lot more than a thousand people. Probably my favorite moment in the whole episode is Dr. Crusher literally being hurled back into reality! Must of been a ton of fun for McFadden. Overall a nice character piece for Crusher, nice continuity with season 1, and a less-than-perfect yet enjoyable episode.
by DJB | 02/01/2008 at 5:52 am

The part that always gets a laugh out of me is when Crusher and Picard are the only people left aboard and Beverly's utter astonishment at his attitude…
"This is all perfectly logical to you, isn't it?! You and I just roaming about he galaxy…," ect.
Just the way that Gates delivers these lines is really funny and the bemused look on Patrick's face.
by Rob Gnow | 04/13/2008 at 11:38 pm

The first time I watched this episode, I was distracted and missed some of the key scenes on the real Enterprise when they discover what happened. That greatly improved the episode, as the good part is all about Dr. Crusher and the collapsing universe. I have fond memories of some of the ludicrous things like Picard's "We've never needed crew before" and the idea that it was a "structural flaw" that the ship wasn't designed to fit within the universe.
Watching it in full, though, makes clear why this episode is memorable but not great. Unlike the other great "alternate universe" episodes, the main character can't move the story forward in any way. We see that the universe is collapsing, and it is cool to watch, but that is it. The resolution is in the real universe with Wesley and the Traveller, but I found that quite dull. I just don't understand how the cliched idea of Wesley being "the Chosen One", who can "use the Force" to rescue his mother, is in any way interesting in the context of Star Trek.
by Christopher Alexander | 03/11/2011 at 7:04 pm

This was a great episode. It was spooky to see people disappearing so completely that no even remembered that they ever existed. The scene with Crusher and Picard absolutely alone on the bridge, alone on the entire ship - Picard still convinced everything that everything was fine and that Crusher had lost it - was haunting, compelling, and very well acted.
"We've never needed a crew a before…" What a great line.
The twist that it was Crusher that disappeared and not everyone else was very well done and quite unexpected. I mean, I knew it was all going to get resolved somehow, but not in such an elegant way. I like how that revelation was executed too - just a sudden cut to Picard making a log entry in the "real" universe.
What almost ruined the whole episode for me was "The Traveler." He is like an amalgamation of every New Age cliche into an ever-smiling, infinitely annoying, quite unnecessary character. I found him very irritating to watch.
And what the heck was up with the solution to all this? The solution is for Wesley to type equations blindfolded, like some kind of nerdy Kung Fu monk, while listening to "The Traveler's Motivational Hypnotherapy, Disk 1?" Very, very annoying.
I want to give the bulk of this episode a 9, and the ending a 1, and I really don't want to average the two… so I think I will abstain from voting and recommend this episode, despite its unsatisfying, and rather irritating ending.
by sphere | 08/17/2011 at 7:18 am

A huge problem you missed. In "Where No One Has Gone Before", Kozinsky is shown to be a complete idiot and a charlatan. So why is Wesley performing an experiment based upon his equations? And why does Wesley consult with him on the issue concerning the warp bubble?
by Jeff Browning | 09/29/2011 at 4:33 pm

In response to "If you can just order the ship to fly itself anywhere you want to go, why does the show ever bother with helmsmen?":
A helmsman would be required for battle scenarios, which could potentially happen at any time.
by Will | 09/30/2011 at 8:59 am

When Beverly ordered the computer to monitor Picard's vital signs, the computer reported his body temperature as 37 point something. The norm is 36.6, so was he ill?
by Inga | 01/30/2012 at 12:08 pm

It is interesting to go back and read the comment about absurd techno-babble when there are researchers looking into warp bubble technology today.
by Glen | 10/11/2013 at 9:43 pm

Inga: It's because Picard is just so super-cool, obviously.
Great episode. One of my favorites. The vibe as everybody disappears slowly is very creepy. McFadden's acting as all of this is going on is spot-on. I'd have reacted exactly the same, very believable.
I just wish the Traveler didn't have to come and ruin the ending. He's so ridiculously annoying. Why don't he and Wesley just get it over with and spoon with each other already?
I'd have given this episode an 8, but I have to take off a point for the lame appearance of the Traveler and magical Wesley-fixes-everything-again ending… so it's a 7.
by Mike Chambers | 11/22/2013 at 10:19 am

CRUSHER: “Data, I interned with him…I’ve known him for 15 years”
DATA: “I do not doubt you, Doctor. But I have tried 173 phonetic variations of the name…”
How can anyone dislike Data?
THE TRAVELER: “As long as she thinks she is alive, she is alive.”
RIKER: “What the hell does that mean?”
Well put, Riker. That’s pretty much what I’ve wondered after everything the Traveler has ever said.
This was a good episode. They didn't make it immediately obvious that it was Dr. Crusher who was caught in the bubble. It was also a well shot episode as they did a decent job of making people disappear in Crusher's midst. I do think pretty much all the inconsistencies can be explained, as you point out, by this universe being Crusher's own creation to include the idea that the ship can fly itself.
by Mike L. Jackson | 07/30/2017 at 1:25 pm

Kethinov, I believe you have made an error in your problem section. The episode is still partly to blame but not in the way you state. The warp bubble is a three dimensional thing. Geordi likely meant 15 m cubed per second. Given the way that Wesley’s computer simulation warp bubbles collapse, they spherical bubble collapses with an ever decreasing diameter. So it isn’t that every edge of the sphere is moving at 15 m/s but rather that the volume of the bubble loses 15 m cubes per second.
by Rick | 03/08/2018 at 2:31 pm